Hotstar and Zapr join hands to drive next wave of mobile audience analytics in India

Hotstar, an OTT platform, and Zapr Media Labs, a Bangalore-based media tech company, has announced a strategic partnership to drive the next wave of mobile audience analytics in India. According to press release shared by the company, the two companies will work together to create a deep understanding of mobile audiences that can be leveraged by brands to create personalised communication and offers.

In what is clearly a trail blazing move for digital marketing, the partnership could herald the emergence of more robust audience analytics and better accountability for results in the mobile marketing world.

Commenting on the partnership Ajit Mohan, CEO, Hotstar, says, "In the transition from the broadcast world to the digital world, advertisers got a data bonanza but in the process had to give up the ability to engage consumers who are actually paying attention to what they are saying. Hotstar has the opportunity to build the world's first platform on digital where consumers are engaged and immersed while at the same time delivering deep audience understanding that allows brands to talk to individuals rather than segments. We believe that we have a shot at creating the world's premier truly personalized advertising service, which benefits both brands and consumers."

The strategic partnership is accompanied by a minority investment into Zapr Media Labs from Star. Zapr's proprietary technology platform analyzes television viewership across 600+ channels in India providing targeted digital analytics and insight into offline consumption behaviour. Zapr has built an analytics platform that combines this proprietary understanding with enriched data that allows advertisers to use it for sharper audience targeting and analysis.

Speaking about the association, Sandipan Mondal, Co-founder and CEO, Zapr Media Labs, says, "We are excited to partner with Hotstar and Star on our journey to build a world-class media-tech company out of India. We look forward to accelerate the pace of our research and development, growing our product portfolio and building a deeper and long lasting relationship with the larger media and advertising industry."

For Hotstar, the partnership signals a clear intent to evolve from a media startup to a full-fledged technology and analytics company that shapes the next wave of mobile usage and advertising in India.